Apologies
by SurprisinglyOdd
Summary: It's not Cecil's fault that his stupid boyfriend keeps missing their dates. It's not his fault they had a fight, so he doesn't have to apologise. But when he's stuck in an elevator with the love of his life, all he can think about is hugging him tightly and never letting go. One-shot/fluff/Cecilos.


"Carlos."

The name was foreign and cold on the tip of Cecil's tongue as he addressed the scientist stiffly, fixating his gaze on the faintly glowing buttons to his left as Carlos stepped inside. With a quick glance, Cecil could see that Carlos' hair was perfectly dishevelled and his glasses perfectly crooked and his jawline, _oh _his jawline, how it was perfectly angular and how everything about him was just _perfect _and how badly he wanted to-

"Cecil."

Cecil froze as his boyfriend acknowledged him, with the same flat tone that he himself had forced. Carlos moved to stand at Cecil's right, distancing himself as much as possible from him. The elevator door slid shut, and for once Cecil barely flinched as a grating voice from inside his head ordered him to choose his desired floor number. With a shaking hand he hit the correct button, one that would take them both to the ground floor so they could part ways.

He didn't want to part ways with Carlos. He didn't want to see his boyfriend turn in the other direction and walk away without a word. His body ached with the desire to touch him, to brush a hand against his perfect cheek and run his fingers through Carlos' perfect, perfect hair. But Carlos didn't want the same thing, he knew. _No, _Cecil thought bitterly, his perfect Carlos was too busy for him. Too busy doing his stupid science with those stupid scientists to arrive on time for dinner. Because 'getting to the bottom of these tentacles that keep dragging pedestrians down into the sewers' was just _too _important to forget about for just one hour.

_Stupid, perfect Carlos._

The elevator descended slowly, achingly slowly. Cecil's heart thumped out every second that ticked by, and every second was a small eternity without his head against Carlos' chest, without his lips brushing against his. But he could wait. He could wait for Carlos to finally apologise, for Carlos to come crawling back on his perfect hands and perfect knees and perfect, perfect...

The elevator screeched to an immediate halt, throwing an alarmed Cecil suddenly off-balance. On instinct, his arms reached out towards Carlos as the scientist stumbled, his perfect eyes widening in alarm. The door wasn't opening, Cecil noticed, and the sparks flashing out from the grating on the wall behind him suggested that they weren't going to.

"Great," Carlos snapped under his breath, shooting an irritated glance in Cecil's direction before quickly turning his attention to the door. Cecil opened his mouth to reply, but no words came to mind. His face fell as Carlos went on, "This happens all the time. If my assistants would pay more attention to the maintenance of this building instead of spending their lunch breaks chanting in front of ridiculous blood stone circles-"

"Blood stones circles aren't ridiculous!" Cecil blurted.

"They a_re _ridiculous, Cecil," Carlos argued. "Blood stone circles are ridiculous, tentacles are ridiculous, this entire _town _is ridiculous and so are you! So if you would just keep your mouth shut for a minute and let me figure this out!"

Cecil flinched as if Carlos had raised a fist to him. He might as well have. He might as well have punched Cecil right in the chest for all the pain he was feeling there. Carlos' eyes didn't move from the elevator's walls to see his boyfriend's expression, to see the furiously blinked back tears in his eyes and the crestfallen look softening his features. Instead he eyed the grating on the wall with a calculating frown as electricity buzzed and flashed from inside it. For a few moments he muttered under his breath, something about 'if only he had the right tools' and 'if perhaps he could manipulate the disembodied voice into letting them go'.

"Have you figured it out yet?" Cecil snapped after a few minutes. "Because you're a _scientist?"_

Carlos sighed. "No, Cecil, I haven't."

"Then maybe you aren't as smart as you think," Cecil grumbled in response. "Maybe you're dumb enough to actually spend some time with your average-intelligence-boyfriend. Or, as you probably call me in front of your science-buddies, your _dumb _boyfriend."

"You aren't dumb, Cecil," Carlos assured, warming for a moment before quickly shaking himself. "I'm going to figure this out if you would stop pestering me for once," he muttered, his eyes now flickering from the door to the buttons to the walls, the floor, the ceiling, as if an answer would be written there somewhere if he looked hard enough. More minutes passed with only muttering from Carlos and silence from his boyfriend.

More time passed, or no time at all. Time was an uncertainty in Night Vale. Nonetheless, moments dragged on and on and Cecil began to get worried as Carlos' muttering grew louder, angrier. The scientist slammed a fist into the wall. "I can't," he stated bitterly. "I can't do it, Cecil." He turned to his boyfriend with a look of despair. "I don't know how to get us out of here."

Cecil was ready with an angry retort, but the words lodged in his throat at the sadness in Carlos' eyes. "It's... It's okay," he decided. "It's fine."

"No, Cecil, it isn't. You were right, I... I'm a scientist. I'm smart, and I act even smarter. If I can't show up to our dates in time or stay for cuddles in the morning then I should at _least _be able to help you when you need it most."

"Carlos..." Cecil began.

"I'm sorry, Cecil. I'm an idiot. I'm a cocksure _idiot_ and we're stuck here together because I forgot to bring my equipment for repairing those stupid grates that the tentacles busted because I was too busy worrying about you because I'm never there for you and-"

He stopped talking as Cecil pulled him into his arms, hugging him with all his strength.

"You're here now," Cecil murmured. "And until the disembodied voice that no one ever talks about lets us free, you're going to stay here."

Carlos was silent for a long time before he replied. "I'm sorry, Cecil. I... I do love you."

"I love you too," Cecil assured him with a smile, hugging him even tighter with no intention of letting go. Not for a long, long time.


End file.
